While banking corporations can create money out of thin air, the rest of us can’t (if case you haven’t noticed!). If you appreciate reading this calendar and the bit of effort to develop and update it, as well as its goals of demystifying how money is created and distributed and how it can be changed to further economic and social justice, democracy and environmental sustainability, please consider making one or both of the following contributions: • Financial: Checks and money orders can be made out to Create Real Democracy and sent to Box 18465, Cleveland Heights, Ohio 44118. Contributions are tax deductible. • Time: Forward the calendar to others you know that might be interested – and encouraging them to sign up.

Thank you!

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NOVEMBER 26

1865 – “ALICE IN WONDERLAND” BY LEWIS CARROLL PUBLISHED IN THE US
The establishment of a European Monetary Union in 1993 was a bold experiment. It created a single monetary system overlaying individual nation states with their own political systems. William Buiter, member of the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee, said ‘It’s a bold step into the unknown. Not unlike Alice [in Wonderland]’s leap down the rabbit hole.”

2014 – “DEBATE OVER MONETARY SYSTEM GROWS” ARTICLE PUBLISHED ON DEUTSCHE WELLE (GERMANY’S INTERNATIONAL BROADCAST WEBSITE)
“Nearly all money is created by commercial banks in the act of lending. They also decide whom to lend it to, and for what purposes. Is this good for the economy? A growing movement is arguing for an alternative.” http://www.dw.com/en/debate-over-monetary-system-grows/a-18100679

NOVEMBER 29

1820 – DEATH OF WILLIAM RICHARDSON DAVIS, GOVERNOR OF N. CAROLINA AND DELEGATE TO THE 1787 US CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION
“So low and hopeless are the finances of the United States, that, the year before last Congress was obliged to borrow money even, to pay the interest of the principal which we had borrowed before. This wretched resource of turning interest into principal, is the most humiliating and disgraceful measure that a nation could take, and approximates with rapidity to absolute ruin: Yet it is the inevitable and certain consequence of such a system as the existing Confederation.”

NOVEMBER 30

1835 – BIRTH OF MARK TWAIN
“Beautiful credit! The foundation of modern society. Who shall say that this is not the golden age of mutual trust, of unlimited reliance upon human promises? That is a peculiar condition of society which enables a whole nation to instantly recognize point and meaning in the familiar newspaper anecdote, which puts into the mouth of the speculator in lands and mines this remark: — ‘I wasn’t worth a cent two years ago, and now I owe two million dollars.’ “
Classic Twain!

DECEMBER 1

1135 – DEATH OF KING HENRY I OF ENGLAND
About 1100, King Henry, short on gold money, created a unique form of government issued money – Tally Sticks. These sticks were just that – polished pieces or sticks of wood with notches of a certain size to indicated the value of the wood. They were declared by the King as money and issued for purchases. They were accepted by the King for payment of taxes. Tally Sticks was an accepted debt-free government-issued money system of England for over 700 years, including the period of the rise of the British Empire.

1896 – PRELIMINARY MEETING OF INDIANAPOLIS MONETARY CONVENTION
Organized by those connected to J.P. Morgan and John D. Rockefeller (the two most powerful bankers, if not businessmen, in the US at the time), a gathering was organized one month after William McKinley defeated William Jennings Bryan for President to address monetary issues. The economic power elite, which had back McKinley and his support for money backed by gold, realized a pure gold standard prevented the issuance of new money when needed to meet a growing economy. Rather than directly proposing a more “elastic” monetary system or the creation of a banker controlled central bank themselves, the bankers deliberately organized a gathering of businessmen, economists, and other academics, as well as bankers, in the nation’s heartland.
A preliminary meeting was held on December 1 with a larger gathering on January 12, 1897. The effort was to camouflage the interests of the major banking interests and convince the public and Congress of the existence of a grassroots movement for real monetary reform. The Indianapolis Monetary Convention urged President McKinley to continue the gold standard, and create a new system of “elastic” bank credit. To that end, the convention urged the president to appoint a new monetary commission to prepare legislation for a new revised monetary system.
A more in-depth report from what became the Indianapolis Monetary Commission was first published on December 1 of the following year in Sound Money magazine. This provided the political cover for the introduction in Congress of a bill to create what eventually became the US. Federal Reserve Act, creating the Federal Reserve System.

DECEMBER 2

1968 – US PRESIDENT NIXON NAMES HENRY KISSINGER SECURITY ADVISOR
Attributed quote to Kissinger, connected to the powerful Rockefeller circle: “If you control the oil, you control entire nations; if you control the food, you control the people; if you control the money, you control the entire world.”

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Why this calendar? Many people have questions about the root causes of our economic problems. Some questions involve money, banks and debt. How is money created? Why do banks control its quantity? How has the money system been used to liberate (not often) and oppress (most often) us? And how can the money system be “democratized” to rebuild our economy and society, create jobs and reduce debt? Our goal is to inform, intrigue and inspire through bite size weekly postings listing important events and quotes from prominent individuals (both past and present) on money, banking and how the money system can help people and the planet. We hope the sharing of bits of buried history will illuminate monetary and banking issues and empower you with others to create real economic and political justice. This calendar is the original project of the Northeast Ohio American Friends Service Committee. Adele Looney, Phyllis Titus, Donna Schall, Leah Davis, Alice Francini, Deb Jose and Greg Coleridge helped in its development. It is currently updated by Greg Coleridge. Please forward this to others and encourage them to subscribe. To subscribe/unsubscribe or to comment on any entry, email monetarycalendar@yahoo.com
To see the calendar year-to-date, go to https://monetarycalendar.wordpress.com/
A second historical calendar, the REAL Democracy History Calendar, in many ways complements this calendar. For information, go to https://realdemocracyhistorycalendar.wordpress.com/about/

2013 – JP MORGAN CHASE PAYS $9 BILLION TO U.S. JUSTICE DEPARTMENT TO SETTLE MASSIVE SECURITIES FRAUD CASE
The settlement was to avoid further investigation into what former JP Morgan Chase bank corporation employee and whistleblower Alayne Fleishman called “massive criminal securities fraud.” The Justice Department clearly didn’t want to pursue the investigation. US Justice Department Secretary Eric Holder said, “Federal prosecutors conducting these investigations must go the extra mile to coordinate closely with the regulators who oversee these institutions’ day-to-day operations.” Translation: You have to keep these institutions in business. They are too big to fail. In defending the lack of action against the bank’s top officials, Holder said: “Responsibility remains so diffuse, and top executives so insulated that any misconduct could again be considered more a symptom of the institution’s culture than a result of the willful actions of any single individual.”

NOVEMBER 20

1910 — DEATH OF LEO TOLSTOY, RUSSIAN WRITER AND SOCIAL REFORMER
“Money is a new form of slavery, and distinguishable from the old simply by the fact that it is impersonal, there is no human relation between master and slave.”

2014 – UK PARLIAMENT DEBATES MONEY CREATION FOR FIRST TIME IN 170 YEARS
From a press release from the UL group, Positive Money
“Parliament places huge scrutiny on how taxpayers’ money is spent. But for the last 170 years, parliament has ignored the question of how money is created in the first place. This will change on Thursday 20th November when MPs will attend a debate on money creation and society.
Money creation affects almost every aspect of our lives and is directly connected to almost all public policy, including public and private debt levels, house prices, and rising inequality, but it’s very poorly understood. A recent poll found that 7 out of 10 MPs believed that only the government could create money, when in fact banks create 97% of money when they make loans, as recently confirmed by the Bank of England.
There is cross party support calling for a debate on money creation. The problems resulting from private money creation have not been debated in Parliament since 1844, when Sir Robert Peel brought in the Bank Charter Act, forbidding the private banks from printing paper money. In light of the financial crisis, we welcome this debate to discuss the foundations of the economy: the monetary system.”
[NOTE: Lack of basic understanding of money creation is no doubt as much a reality of U.S. Senators and Representatives as English MP’s. Needed is a similar debate in the U.S. Congress to increase their monetary literacy and raise the issue for public discussion.]

NOVEMBER 21

1933 – PRESIDENT FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT — FINANCIAL ELEMENTS OWN THE GOVERNMENT
“The real truth of the matter is, as you and I know, that a financial element in the larger centers has owned the Government ever since the days of Andrew Jackson — and I am not wholly excepting the Administration of W.W. (Woodrow Wilson). The country is going through a repetition of Jackson’s fight with the Bank of the United States — only on a far bigger and broader basis.” – Franklin Roosevelt, letter to Presidential advisor Col. Edward Mandell House

1939 – BIRTH OF MARGRIT KENNEDY, AUTHOR OF “OCCUPY MONEY”
“But we humans, not God, created our monetary system. And we are the ones who can change it. We must go beyond blaming the greedy bankers and investors whom we hold responsible for the ongoing financial disaster. Our own ignorance, comfort, and insecurity are part of the problem. To awaken from our slumber, we must expand our knowledge and shake off our fears.”

1944 – BIRTH OF DICK DURBIN, US SENATOR, ILLINOIS
“And the banks — hard to believe in a time when we’re facing a banking crisis that many of the banks created — are still the most powerful lobby on Capitol Hill. And they frankly own the place.”
Interview on WJJG 1530 AM’s “Mornings with Ray Hanania,” April 2009
[NOTE: The FIRE sector — Finance, Insurance, and Real Estate — is the #1 sector of political campaign investments (mistakenly called “contributions” or “donations”) to federal political candidates. They also employ hundreds of lobbyists who often write the laws and regulations on financial issues.]

NOVEMBER 22

1879 – BIRTH OF RALPH HAWTREY, FORMER SECRETARY OF TREASURY, ENGLAND.
“Banks lend by creating credit. They create the means of payment out of nothing.”

NOVEMBER 23

1910 – JEKYLL ISLAND MEETING TO PLAN FOR US PRIVATE CENTRAL BANK
Attending this secret meeting were US Senator Nelson Aldrich; A. Piatt Andrew, Assistant Secretary of the Treasury; Frank Vanderlip, president of the National City Bank of New York; Henry P. Davison, senior partner of J.P. Morgan Company; D. Norton, president of the Morgan-dominated First National Bank of New York; Benjamin Strong (a lieutenant of J.P. Morgan); and Paul Warburg, connected to the banking house of Kuhn, Loeb. The meeting would lead to the Aldrich bill, which eventually led to the Federal Reserve Act, passed in 1913.

2000 – WRITTEN ANSWER TO LORD BEAUMONT OF WHITLEY, HOUSE OF LORDS, BY JAMES ROBERTSON, CO-AUTHOR OF “MONETARY REFORM – MAKING IT HAPPEN”
“Many people, even in government and parliament, don’t know how new money is now created, and what the consequences are. Most people find it hard to believe, if they think about it at all, that almost all the money in circulation has been created by commercial banks at profit to themselves. In reply to questions, a government spokesman may say that the funds which banks lend to customers ‘must either be obtained from depositors or the sterling money market, both of which usually require the payment of interest’ – thus appearing to deny that banks are allowed to create new money and to profit from doing so.”

NOVEMBER 24

1911 – AMERICAN BANKERS’ ASSOCIATION ENDORSES SO-CALLED “MONETARY REFORM” PLAN
The ABA at their annual conference in New Orleans endorsed a “monetary reform” plan by U.S. Senator Nelson Aldrich. The plan was actually to deform the ability of citizens to create and distribute their/own own money (see above November 23, 1910 entry).

NOVEMBER 25

1874 – GREENBACK PARTY FOUNDED
The Greenback Party was founded on this day at a convention in Indianapolis. Many of its members were farmers hurt by the financial Panic of 1873 (also known as the “Crime of ‘73”). The party supported “Greenback” paper money (U.S. Notes) issued and spent into circulation by the Lincoln administration. They opposed all money systems backed by any precious metal, believing that those who owned gold or silver (banks and corporations) would possess the power to define the value of products and labor. Government control of the US money system would also ensure sufficient quantity of money was in circulation to help small businesses and farmers. Twenty-one independent congressmen, mostly Greenbackers, were elected in 1878.

2008 – QUANTITATIVE EASING (QE) PROGRAM ANNOUNCED BY THE FEDERAL RESERVE
The Fed announced that on December 1 it would create money and use it to purchase $500 billion in toxic mortgage backed securities from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and an additional $100 billion of debt from both entities. This phase of QE (called QE1) extended until March 2010. Two additional rounds, QE2 and QE3, followed it. A total of $4.4 trillion from the Fed was issued. It went disproportionately to financial corporations (Wall Street), not “Main Street” (for small businesses) or to “Side Streets” (to bail out homeowners facing foreclosures). QE money was also spent to purchase US Treasury bonds (debt) following the decline of purchases by other nations as a means to stimulate the economy. At its peak, $85 billion per month in Treasury debt and mortgage backed securities was purchased. Many within the financial industry have since admitted that QE contributed to the rising gap between rich and poor and the rise and size of too-big-to-fail banking corporations.

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Why this calendar? Many people have questions about the root causes of our economic problems. Some questions involve money, banks and debt. How is money created? Why do banks control its quantity? How has the money system been used to liberate (not often) and oppress (most often) us? And how can the money system be “democratized” to rebuild our economy and society, create jobs and reduce debt? Our goal is to inform, intrigue and inspire through bite size weekly postings listing important events and quotes from prominent individuals (both past and present) on money, banking and how the money system can help people and the planet. We hope the sharing of bits of buried history will illuminate monetary and banking issues and empower you with others to create real economic and political justice. This calendar is the original project of the Northeast Ohio American Friends Service Committee. Adele Looney, Phyllis Titus, Donna Schall, Leah Davis, Alice Francini, Deb Jose and Greg Coleridge helped in its development. It is currently updated by Greg Coleridge. Please forward this to others and encourage them to subscribe. To subscribe/unsubscribe or to comment on any entry, email monetarycalendar@yahoo.com
To see the calendar year-to-date, go to https://monetarycalendar.wordpress.com/
A second historical calendar, the REAL Democracy History Calendar, in many ways complements this calendar. For information, go to https://realdemocracyhistorycalendar.wordpress.com/about/

1999 – ENACTMENT OF FINANCIAL SERVICES MODERNIZATION ACT (ALSO KNOWN AS GRAMM-LEACH-BLILEY ACT)
The act removed many barriers contained in the Glass-Steagall Act of 1933, including those that separated banking, securities and insurance corporations. The result was massive combination and consolidation within the financial sector – creating enormously powerful institutions. A leading Republican in Congress, Senator Phil Gramm, proposed the bill. President Bill Clinton, a Democrat, signed it.

NOVEMBER 13

1856 – BIRTH OF LOUIS BRANDEIS, US SUPREME COURT JUSTICE (1916-1939)
“The goose that lays golden eggs has been considered a most valuable possession. But even more profitable is the privilege of taking the golden eggs laid by somebody else’s goose. The investment bankers and their associates now enjoy that privilege. They control the people through the people’s own money.” Louis Brandeis, Other People’s Money and How the Bankers Use It (1913)

NOVEMBER 14

2008 – US GOVERNMENT BAILS OUT US BANKS
The U.S. Treasury Department purchases a total of $33.5 billion in preferred stock in 21 U.S. banks under the Capital Purchase Program.

2005 – QUOTE BY BEN BERNANKE
“With respect to their safety, derivatives, for the most part, are traded among very sophisticated financial institutions and individuals who have considerable incentive to understand them and to use them properly.”

NOVEMBER 16

1914 – US FEDERAL RESERVE OPENS FOR BUSINESS
“Commercial banks create checkbook money whenever they grant a loan, simply by adding new deposit dollars in accounts on their books in exchange for a borrower’s IOU.” From I Bet You Thought, Federal Reserve Bank of New York

1914 – FEDERAL RESERVE BANK OF BOSTON OPENS FOR BUSINESS
“When you or I write a check there must be sufficient funds in our account to cover the check, but when the Federal Reserve writes a check there is no bank deposit on which that check is drawn. When the Federal Reserve writes a check, it is creating money.”
Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, Putting It Simply (1984)

2006 – DEATH OF MILTON FRIEDMAN, US ECONOMIST
“The Federal Reserve definitely caused the Great Depression by contracting the amount of currency in circulation by one-third from 1929 to 1933.”

NOVEMBER 17

2008 – FEDERAL RESERVE BAILS OUT BANKS
The US Treasury gives out $33.6 billion to 21 banks in the second round of disbursements from the $700 billion bailout fund. This payout brings the total to $158.56 billion to date.

NOVEMBER 18

2014 – “HOW THE CURRENT PROCESS OF MONEY CREATION IS CAUSING A RISE IN POVERTY, INSTABILITY AND INEQUALITY” TALK BY BEN DYSON, FOUNDER OF POSITIVE MONEY (VIDEO)
Ben Dyson, founder of Positive Money presenting at Meaning Conference 2014 on 18th November in Brighton, UK. He got into the nitty gritty of how the current process for money creation is causing a rise in poverty, instability and inequality. And challenged the audience to imagine what a modern and sustainable system could look like.http://positivemoney.org/2014/12/current-process-money-creation-causing-rise-poverty-instability-inequality-video/

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Why this calendar? Many people have questions about the root causes of our economic problems. Some questions involve money, banks and debt. How is money created? Why do banks control its quantity? How has the money system been used to liberate (not often) and oppress (most often) us? And how can the money system be “democratized” to rebuild our economy and society, create jobs and reduce debt? Our goal is to inform, intrigue and inspire through bite size weekly postings listing important events and quotes from prominent individuals (both past and present) on money, banking and how the money system can help people and the planet. We hope the sharing of bits of buried history will illuminate monetary and banking issues and empower you with others to create real economic and political justice. This calendar is the original project of the Northeast Ohio American Friends Service Committee. Adele Looney, Phyllis Titus, Donna Schall, Leah Davis, Alice Francini, Deb Jose and Greg Coleridge helped in its development. It is currently updated by Greg Coleridge. Please forward this to others and encourage them to subscribe. To subscribe/unsubscribe or to comment on any entry, email monetarycalendar@yahoo.com
To see the calendar year-to-date, go to https://monetarycalendar.wordpress.com/
A second historical calendar, the REAL Democracy History Calendar, in many ways complements this calendar. For information, go to https://realdemocracyhistorycalendar.wordpress.com/about/